What Is Dyslexia?
The brain collects all of the messages from all your senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting), then uses them like clues to work out what is happening all around you.
If someone has dyslexia, some of the seeing and hearing messages get muddled up, and the brain can’t work things out correctly.
  • This means that the person feels confused trying to work out what are the right messages.
  • Dyslexia literally means having trouble with reading, but the word is often used for other problems such as spelling problems or trouble with maths.
  • People who have dyslexia are usually as smart as others in their class or may be smarter than others, so it is really frustrating for them to have problems in reading, spelling, listening and understanding.

For more information visit:
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=243&np=293&id=2200

The link below is an interview with Liz dunoon who is a teacher and a mother of three dyslexic children. The interview on "Sunrise" provides insight and awareness to society about dyslexia.
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/play/-/8179644/help-kids-with-dyslexia/
Liz Dundoon also has a website:
http://www.helpingchildrenwithdyslexia.com/index.html
This website aims to assist both parents and teachers of how to deal with dyslexic children providing:

  • Discussion forum for parents,
    teachers and professionals
  • Free learning aids, speed
    training and Teaching resources
  • Dyslexia Teaching and learning
    strategies, Incl. free downloads
  • Recommended books for
    children to read
  • Recommended web sites,
    research reports and news articles
  • Success stories and much much more

Esl and Special Needs Students
Who are ESL and special needs students?

ESL students have the same spectrum of abilities as any other cross section of the population.The fact that they may require extra assistance to learn the language of instruction does not exclude the possibility that they may need assistance in other areas as well. Some may have visual impairment, hearing deficiency, lack of psychomotor skills, or particular talents and gifts that demand consideration.What are the strategies availaible to teachers